Posted by cybercafe on August 14, 2002, at 13:05:45
In reply to Re: Strange thing about mental illness » cybercafe, posted by awake at last on August 14, 2002, at 10:06:17
> This could have a huge significance. The normal range for blood glucose levels is 4 to 8 mmol/l (or 70-110 mg/dl).
yeah heh heh heh on these reports that doctors get it actually tells them the normal range and when something is a problem -- i thought that was what a medical degree was for? :)
> How did you determine the level of 2.8? With a glucometer of your own or by a doctor? If a
.... i was not very impressed with the waiting times or knowledge of my docs
.. i figured that it would be faster to just get a medical degree than to wait months to see a pdoc ...
.... so i started off by asking my doc for my test results ...
... it says
GLUCOSE-FASTING result 2.8, Abnormal Lo, reference range 3.6 - 6.0, test locn. Loc 10 (elbow i'm guessing -- i.e. pronator teres muscle -- cephalic vein i'm guessing)... this is from 1999, i think i was on 40 mg paxil, probably lorazepam as well
for some reason my cholesterol is also super high even though i exercise like a mad freak... i'm actually looking into endocrine disorders right now...
>doctor registered this, he should have been doing some further testing! At a level of 2.8, you probably are not only tired and have memory and concentration problems, but I wouldn't be
concentration problems -- you better believe it baby .... what do you mean it's not normal to fall asleep at work?
... ummm... can i be totally honest with you? i don't want to bother my doctor unless it's important -- you know how we anxious people are always being annoying hypochrondriacs -- would it be possible for you to provide me with a website that could validate that a low blood level of 2.8 is really something serious?? .. nothing personal -- i always like to have at least 3 sources tell me the exact same thing before i alter my beliefs/behaviour
>surprised if you are experiencing some shaking/queezy feelings as well. If a doctor finds a 2.8 mmol/l level after a 12 hr. fast, then he should begin checking to assure that you don't have an Insulin secreting tumor in your pancreas or a liver disease. If these are ruled out, then you may have what's called reactive hypoglycemia.
hey thanks a lot for the info -- i say we submitt a claim to my healthcare provider for your excellent medical advice
> In general - NO DESSERTS! Reactive hypoglycemia is directly related to what you eat (this is what I have), thus can be hard to diagnosis. When I eat sugar (or simple carbs - white flour etc - which become sugar), my body doesn't process the glucose properly and releaseshmmm... i think i was actually avoiding desserts back then -- in an effort to avoid acne
you know what? ... i just called our local health service and they told me low blood glucose doesn't mean anything.. it changes all the time.. yadda yadda yadda... plus the test is 3 years old so it doesn't mean anything etc etc etc ...
funny how you seem to know more about this stuff than these registered nurses
> What you need to do is to is eliminate sugar and simple carbs from your diet - try to keep a steady amount of glucose in your system so that your pancreas doesn't over-react. There are some
that's only if i suffer from reactive hypoglycemia right? ... i might just have a fast metabolism or something maybe ?
in which case i would have to eat frequently to keep my sugar levels half decent
> When your glucose drops as low as 2.8 mmol/l (or equivalent of 49 mg/dl), if you are feeling shaky or having slurred speach, you probably do need to eat a SMALL amount of sugar (but a small
arr grr.. shaky (tremors?) could be caused by medication... slurred speech -- yeah, .. i always thought i just had too much bloody saliva... or now... because my jaw is somewhat dislocated :)
> Blood glucose levels have a tremendous effect on serotonin levels (low glucose, low serotonin, high glucose - high serotonin) - I don't know what meds you are on, but many anti-depressants effect serotonin levels. Most of them raise
.. you mean blood sugar = happy ? .... you've got my attention :)
these levels which can help (or "mask" as I like to put it) some of the side-effect that are being caused by the low glucose levels. But for me,
... uh... so antidepressants cure low blood glucose? ... or they alter the test results (false negative), but the side effects still persist?
>the anti-depressants that raised my serotonin didn't help much. I found I have to maintain a proper diet. If you haven't read my other posts,
yeah... i was taking paxil at the time... and still had the low reading
>then please note that my hypoglycemia was the first diagnosis in my recovery (I also later found that I had low testosterone levels and narcolepsy). After treating all of these is when I finally got my life back.
hmmm... you experienced daytime sleepiness before depression?
... i can't remember to what extent i did or not... i definately dream within 2 minutes of sleep... but there's no way i can be a narcoleptic... i mean there's no way that one person can suffer from 5 trillion different medical illnesses... clearly i must be a hypochrondriac ....
can you cite a source that clearly goes over this dreaming-within-10-minutes-of-falling-asleepness?> So if you don't feel immediately better from a change in diet, don't go back to eating poorly, continue the search for what else might be wrong.
thanks a lot for the info .... if you turn out to be right i will be oh so very happy to kiss your feet :)
poster:cybercafe
thread:115994
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020814/msgs/116403.html